“The exhibitors are really excited,” Erotica LA vice president of marketing and operations Chad Beecher said, “It’s much bigger than last year. We have 200 exhibitors, the most ever.”

That marks a 14 percent increase over the 2003 Erotica LA convention, which had 172 exhibitors.

Numbers were not yet available for attendees.

In the evening, the longest line was at the Romantix booth, which featured an all-star cast that included AVN Hall of Famer Ron Jeremy, Anais, Seymore Butts, AVN 2004 Female Performer of the Year Ashley Blue, Hannah Harper, Mariposa, Flower and AnnMarie. The line roped around the side of the booth, with many anxious fans holding pens, photos and notepads hoping to get ink from the stars.

“The Hedgehog is the king!” one man in the que said to a friend as they rounded the corner of the booth and saw Jeremy standing behind the counter.

“I actually saw a lot of people that I wanted to see,” Blue told AVN.com. “I was surprised, I thought it was going to be really lame, but it was great! I even saw someone from high school and she came up and gave me a hug and asked me all the typical dumbass questions. It was great. I gave her a DVD.”

Another popular hangout was the Suze Randall Photography booth which featured the AVN Hall of Fame photographer, her photographer daughter Holly Randall, and sultry subjects Lanny Barbie, Taylor Rain, Justine (formerly known as Swan), 2003 Penthouse Pet of the Year Sunny Leone, Amy Sweet and Jelena Jensen. Things got particularly wild when the girls would stand on the tables and hurl shirts into the crowd – so much so that security came by to tell the performers that they had to confine their giveaways to handouts.

Across the room at the impressive Playgirl TV booth, Playgirl Art Director Angela Derasmo saw things differently: There was a long line of giggling women lined up for autographs and photos with male stars like Kris Knight and Nick Ortiz of the magazine and its new spinoff cable television offering.

“We’re not really competing with anyone,” Derasmo said, referring to the convention and the cable offering. “No one else is offering adult tv for women.”

The booth had several petitions for attendees to sign in order to help Playgirl TV get added to more cable operators, and Derasmo said they had close to a thousand signatures by midday Saturday.

She noted that Saturday’s crowd had been more forthcoming, while Friday’s crowd had been more standoffish.

Outback Productions’ owner Nicole London was all smiles as she discussed a $22,000 sale she’d made to a cable provider the day before. She was also excited as she showed off a high-definition TV production on a small monitor. When asked if maybe HDTV might show a little too many performer flaws in XXX productions, she said, “It will weed out some people who need to be weeded out.”

At the Rodney Moore booth, the singular-named Franne said the sales were rolling in.

“People are buying stuff,” she said. “I don’t know if it’s busier than recent years, but people are definitely buying more.”

As she spoke, a herd of clowns – those of the baggy pants, Seltzer water and round, red nose variety – scampered by. While most in attendance seemed amused by the sight, one clown-fearing attendee wept openly after seeking refuge in the booth of a hardcore production company. The clowns’ intentions could not be confirmed at presstime.

Seminars were also a large part of the Erotica LA experience, and the Lowdown on Sex Toys offering was particularly well-attended.

While some shy would-be attendees hovered around the entrance – “I can’t go in there!” one girl told her male friend as he tried to lure her in – more than 100 others sat on the edge of their seats as Kim Airs of Grand Opening! gave (audio) demonstrations on a wide variety of sex toys.